Three key rugby positions filled by Tuam men John Carr, Eamonn Feely and Billy Glynn

By JIM CARNEY IT'S a source of immense pride to Tuam Rugby Club and the town that three very important, high-prestige administration posts for the new season (2011-2012) are held by Tuam men. The new President of the Connacht Branch of the I.R.F.U. is John Carr, pictured above on left; John, a native of Raphoe, Co. Donegal, came to Tuam in the mid-1970s, marrying into the O'Connor family, Sun Street, and he joined the local rugby club, to which he's since given outstanding service as a player, captain and an officer who held almost every key position in the club. So too, early in his rugby career, did Eamonn Feely(above, right), of the very well known Feely family, Dublin Road, Tuam.[private] Eamonn, who now lives in Creganna, Oranmore, then dedicated his rugby time to helping at Connacht Branch level â€â€ remarkably, he has just completed his 20th successive year as Branch treasurer. He was recently elected Connacht Junior Vice-President, which means he'll be Connacht President in two seasons' time, in succession to the next president, Aidan O'Halloran, well-known in GAA circles as an All-Ireland Senior Football Championship star with his native Offaly in the early 1980s. A bank manager, Aidan spent several years with Bank of Ireland in Dunmore. The highest position in Irish rugby administration, President of the Irish Rugby Football Union, will be filled next year by Galway city-based Galwegians RFC stalwart Billy Glynn (above, centre) who is, of course, a member of the well-known Tuam family of solicitors, also associated for a long, long time with Tuam Golf Club and many other local sports clubs and civic groups. Billy Glynn, now Senior Vice-President of the I.R.F.U., is proud of his Tuam roots; he was a very successful schools sprinter in his teenage years and he went on to concentrate on rugby, as one of the fastest wings to play the game at all levels in the 1960s, notably as a prolific try-scorer in the famous Wegians 10-in-a-row Connacht Senior Cup winning team. He also played for the Irish Universities against South Africa and, having very deservedly got a final Irish trial, went agonisingly close to winning an Irish 'cap' but that was in the bad old days when Connacht didn't have a representative on the national selection committee, the legendary (for the wrong reasons!) group of all-powerful men known as 'The Big Five.' The outgoing President and long-serving driving force of Tuam Rugby Club, Co. Clare-born Seán Carter, this week paid tribute to John Carr, Eamonn Feely and Billy Glynn as three outstanding servants of rugby at all levels, from the grassroots up, and Seán says their elevation to high status is well deserved as 'their contributions to the ongoing development of the game at local, provincial and national levels simply cannot be measured. What they've achieved is perhaps best reflected now in the way they are being honoured by their fellow rugby officers and clubs, in Connacht in the case of John and Eamonn, and at national level in Billy's case.' Many tributes have also been paid by Tuam RFC members in recent weeks to Seán Carter's own magnificent contribution to the local club, which he is now handing over to the leadership of new president Kevin Garrett, whose father Mick was captain of the Galway senior football team who reached the 1963 All-Ireland final. John Carr becomes the 55th President of the Connacht Branch since it was founded in 1885. Richard Biggs of Galway Grammar School was the first President of the Branch back in 1885 when there were only six clubs to oversee. The role now encompasses 22 adult clubs, 6 youth/mini clubs, the Senior professional team and representative teams at U-18 (Youths and Schools), U-19, U-20 and Junior levels. [/private]